What camera to take for going on a walk?

Sirius Glass · Jun 3, 2023

GRHazelton said:
That procedure may well keep the Nikonos weather proof, but I wouldn't trust it to make the camera waterproof. Southern Nikonos at one time was the place to go, but they seem to be out of business. You might check this forum for other possibilities: https://scubaboard.com/community/threads/best-places-for-nikonos-v-service.363812/
Good luck, and please post your experience to PhotoTrio.

I no longer scub dive or even snorkle. I use the Nikonos V for rainy weather and that procedure is good enough for me, but as some time I will take it in for a CLA when warranted.

DREW WILEY · Jun 3, 2023

My wife likes to snorkel. But I couldn't afford a true film Nikonos, so bought her a little digital underwater Nikon. It works perfectly well for the modest depths we go. We call it her "turtle camera" because she especially likes shooting sea turtles. If I were serious about that kind of thing I would have sought to refurbish the gaskets on a Pentax 6X7 underwater housing. Only 10 shots at a time before you have to remove the camera from the water it to reload; but a lot more image area. But all that would have probably cost me as much as another Hawaii vacation itself. On land all I need to keep dry is a big Goretex dark cloth over the 8X10, or a long lens shade on a little ordinary Nikon, otherwise tucked under my Goretex parka.

Sirius Glass · Jun 3, 2023

DREW WILEY said:
My wife likes to snorkel. But I couldn't afford a true film Nikonos, so bought her a little digital underwater Nikon. It works perfectly well for the modest depths we go. We call it her "turtle camera" because she especially likes shooting sea turtles. If I were serious about that kind of thing I would have sought to refurbish the gaskets on a Pentax 6X7 underwater housing. Only 10 shots at a time before you have to remove the camera from the water it to reload; but a lot more image area. But all that would have probably cost me as much as another Hawaii vacation itself. On land all I need to keep dry is a big Goretex dark cloth over the 8X10, or a long lens shade on a little ordinary Nikon, otherwise tucked under my Goretex parka.

A point and shoot underwater digital camera makes more sense that a underwater film camera just for the freedom to take as many photographs as one wants.

chuckroast · Jun 3, 2023

I carry either a Fuji GW690 II or a Nikon film body of some sort with a lens or two.

Sirius Glass · Jun 3, 2023

chuckroast said:
I carry either a Fuji GW690 II or a Nikon film body of some sort with a lens or two.

Welcome to ~~APUG~~ Photrio!!

DREW WILEY · Jun 3, 2023

If it rains early next wk, I'll get out with one of my Fuji 6X9's too, in a small shoulder bag, and with the tripod over my shoulder rife-style. I'll have a rain jacket tucked somewhere in there too, if I do get caught in a brief downpour.

bags27 · Jun 3, 2023

I define a walk as anything under 5 miles (after that, it's a hike). I've taken every one of my cameras on walks, including my Texas Leica Fuji and my HB.

But I think we're really talking about a saunter. Thoreau has a great, great essay "Walking":

Walking

Henry David Thoreau extols the virtues of immersing oneself in nature and laments the inevitable encroachment of private ownership upon the wilderness.

www.theatlantic.com

where he talks about sauntering, which is sort of insouciant. For that, I usually take a lighter camera, like my Leica M4-P or Nikon FE2 (which, with the Zeiss lenses I favor, can be a brick).

Sirius Glass · Jun 3, 2023

bags27 said:
I define a walk as anything under 5 miles (after that, it's a hike). I've taken every one of my cameras on walks, including my Texas Leica Fuji and my HB.

All at once, at the same time, together, in a bunch, simultaneously, in unison ... ?

bags27 · Jun 3, 2023

Sirius Glass said:
All at once, at the same time, together, in a bunch, simultaneously, in unison ... ?

I let my camera walker do that. I take one at a time.

kennethwajda · Jun 3, 2023

Someone posted, "Do you ever find you're somewhere without a camera and wish you had taken one?" To which I replied, "Why would you leave without a camera, that makes no sense." I haven't left for the last 35 years without a camera. (I'm a photojournalist.)

DREW WILEY · Jun 3, 2023

To be a saunter, you need to be wearing cowboy boots, spurs, leather chaps, and a six-shooter too, preferably leading through the saloon doors. If it's strictly outdoors, it's called a mosey. But if you have to go from Point A to B crawling through brush and then across forest and fields, it's called a traipse, and that's when the bulls chase you, and the saunter types shoot at you.

bjorke · Jun 4, 2023

When I was in school our PJ teacher promised to dock our grades is we were ever encountered without a camera when away from home (my neighbor photographer, a NatGeo guy, said this was BS -- but he wasn't assigning my grades!). Specifics of the model and make were not addressed.

Old habits die hard.

But why are you walking? If you carry a camera, is it as a tool or a fashion choice?

Ivo Stunga · Jun 4, 2023

When the Samsung digital point and shoot, given to me by my GF of that time, died back in 2009 or so, I was in a situation where a photographer - her father - presented to me his camera collection of 15 or so cameras, I had to choose one. I looked with a slight disbelief in my eyes at all the cameras, but really only one jumped at my face right away: Olympus OM-1: a compact, cute, well built all-metal machine with gorgeously bright and crisp viewfinder, and controls that let you dial in exposure settings without ever deattaching camera from your face. - "Can I try this", I said, and haven't parted the OM-1 line since.
The given siver OM-1 died some years later, so I bought one of my own: black OM-1n MD which is the camera I take everywhere with me - to my URBEX adventures, photowalks and to work which is not photography related.

It's seen rooftops and towers, dirty and wet tunnels, dusty abandoned premises, gritty beaches, cats and some portraiture - all that with no weather proofing, but continues to run smoothly considering the circumstances.

One tool is all I need.

BHuij · Jun 6, 2023

My go-to walkaround camera is my Canon Elan II with 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5. Usually a roll of HP5+ and often a standard yellow filter on front. That setup is light, versatile, and gets out of the way for me very well. And that lens is far sharper than it has any right to be for the price it currently fetches of under $100.

What camera to take for going on a walk?

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